SuperVillain Idea - Viro
by Mellowix
Summary: For decades, the Dark Knight has been able to brute force his way to defeating his enemies - Yet still not having to face the dark reality of murder in the name of reserving human life. However, what happens when a foe is neither physical or human?


**Legal Name:** Subject R4-NA. (R4 for short)  
**Nicknames:** Viro (Preferred name.) Given to The "Strings of Gotham", The Plucker/Pluck. (What the inmates of Arkham call Viro.)

**Species:** Mind Parasite. A "gas-based" life-form that appears to be like "a free-flowing sentient blue/green energy, comparable to that of smoke in texture and movement.". Age/maturing process of a Mind Parasite is unknown. Whether they are alien or native to earth, is unknown. How they reproduce is theorized to be a form of asexual reproduction called fragmentation, similar to underwater organisms like Starfish and Squids. They prey on and consumes the nerve endings and electrical messages of animals brains, usually favouring a certain species to feed on - Learning their behavior from it's hosts. They need to be in a host's body at all times. Exposure to the outside world will cause them to 'evaporate'. However, with training, they can extend the amount of time outside of a body without dying. Due to it's gas structure, Viro are immune to bacteria and viruses, since they have no solid surface to latch onto. However occasionally, Mind Parasite can trick themselves into symptoms behaviors, if sick host's mind is allowed to influence it too much.

**Age:** Unknown. (Behaviour/Maturity level dependent on its recent hosts. Estimated to its had awareness its a separate entity from its hosts for 5 years. Though Viro could of existed for much longer.)  
**Gender:** Sexless (Though does get gender characteristics from it's hosts, mostly Human males and females.)

**Hero/Villain:** Supervillain.  
**Height:** 6"6' (Average height of exoskeleton. But those vary due to Viro having multiple of them.)  
**Weight:** 24.6 kg (Average weight of exoskeleton. But those vary due to Viro having multiple of them.)

**Professions:** Might be considered a "Psychotherapist" of sorts at Arkham Asylum. With Viro's ability to control someone's brain, Viro is used to alter an inmate's dangerous behavior. However, Viro is used as an absolute last resort and closely monitored whenever it is used. If Viro does anything out of line, even slightly, it will be given a painful electric shock. Viro is only reserved for supervillains beyond the help of any human psychiatrists, such as the Joker.

Besides from this and being used for research, Viro doesn't really have any official professions. However, when free, it will often be involved in serval criminal acts.

When Viro first got the exoskeletons, it attampted to integrate into Human society as a law-abiding citizen. As one of the few ways it could legally feed on Humans, Viro was allowed live at a Hospice, euthanising patients on their death beds. In exchange, it numbed pain receptors and brought up any emotion/memory the patient requests. However, after Viro concluded it could only exist in Human society as a criminal, it's lost the privileges to work with innocent people. Now Viro can only be used on criminals to mentally treat or execute them.

**Appearance:** The first of Viro's exoskeleton was created by the Strange Hugo Strange - Made with the strong and transparent plastic in the shape of an average human, with joints designed to mimci human movements as well. Within the exoskeleton is artificial nerve system, disconnect from any pervious living being, so Viro can have complete control of it. It's over all quite a simple structure, mostly hollow on the inside and no details on the Plastic shell, not even a face. The thick plastic is able to block the average handgun or knife, but more advanced weapons have been known to break through. The dangerous part for Viro, comes in wether an opponent can sever the artificial nerve endings inside the exoskeleton. If so, Viro's true gas-based form will 'leak' out into the outside world, which is like acid to it.

Since then, Viro has been forced to create new exoskeletons itself as they can get damaged or destroyed. Though it does favour Strange's original design, replicating whenever it creates a new exoskeletons. However, materials of them vary depending what's available at the time; from plastic to Titanium and even scrap metal, depending on the circumstances of the time. Though will attempt to use lightweight materials whenever possible.

Viro itself, without a host, appears as a 'free-flowing green and blue energy'. Since it doesn't have its own physical body, Viro needs the exoskeleton or a host's body in order to survive. Without a body, Viro would slowly evaporate. When in Arkham, they will fit a shock collar around Viro's "neck" to keep it under control.

**Personality:** Has no fixed or permanent personality. When Viro leaves a host's body, it just doesn't leave with their memories but also small personality traits from them. So Viro has a forever changing personality, which can make it very unpredictable. Though has a limited world experience, never having gone outside of Gotham, so is sometimes prone to make mistakes, mainly with things Viro hasn't dealt with yet. The only traits that seem to remind consistent is high-intelligence, very patient, willing to wait a long time to what it wants, extreme good knowledge of human psychology able to predict behavior with deadly accurately if said-person has been a former host/victim, willing to go to extreme lengths to get a specific piece of knowledge, sometimes uses behavior outside of human 'social norms' in order to creep out and intimate.

When Viro was first captured, it seemed to lack awareness of what species it was. Displayed some identity issues of whether it was human or not. As far as Scientists/Governments are aware, Viro is the only spermine of its kind, though it's unluckily for Viro to be the only one of its species. With some reported sightings of other ones, that have yet to be confirmed. But because of this, Viro has been observed to have behavior akin to loneliness, when kept in isolation for long periods of time.

Without access to other Mind Parasites, humans are Viro's only other alternative. Though with common rejection/signs of disgust from humans, Viro has experienced confusion on what is it/where it belongs. However, these issues have toned down after Scientists explained their findings to Viro of its species. Now thought that Viro has the goal of finding other Mind parasites. Though until then, Viro continues to use humans for satisfying it's needed for socialization. It's thought this need for socialization, has come from the fact human are social animals and Viro has picked this up from its mostly human hosts.

**Powers/Skills:** Viro's "superpowers" are not officially considered powers because they are completely natural to the species. When it comes to physical combat, Viro is lacking. Though it can easily overpower an average person, when it comes to more powerful foes like Superheros/Other Supervillains, Viro struggles. With no training or specific fighting style, Viro must rely on instinct and improvisation in a fight. Through Viro does have memories/experiences from some it's more skilled victims - having memories of something is one thing but actually physically pulling it off is something else entirely.

However, Viro's true powers come when it manages to get into your brain. So it's crucial to keep Viro away from your face or it can "climb" into your brain through your nose, ears or mouth. Once inside of your brain, it can do a whole host of things to you; Take control of you, control your bodily functions like breathing and swallowing, be the little voice inside your head, erase certain memories (Can erase someone's whole memories but it takes a long time to do this), find out your deepest secrets etc.

Since Viro is physically inside your brain/nerve system, it's much deeper and deadlier than any telekinetic attack. The power level of the host is mostly irrelevant as Viro turns their own body against them. Unless they have a way to physically alter/reach their brain and Viro, there's no way to get rid of it without outside forces. As long as it has enough energy to spare, it can remind in someone's head for a long time, up to 4 weeks. When Viro decides to feed, it completely consumes the brain, making the top of the head shrivel up, becoming flat, like this (From Doctor Who: 'Time Heist'.), which instantly kills most humans. The disadvantage to this, is the fact Viro becomes trapped in a host that can't move and has no food left. Unless it can reach a new living host or one of its exoskeletons, it will be stranded and could face starvation.

Though Viro hasn't explored the possibilities yet, it's theoretically capable of healing its host's bodies medically, not just mental illness. Since Viro has a unique prospective of being physically inside the body, it could be taught/trained to identify internal injuries/diseases. From there, Viro could use it's control of bodily functions, including white blood cells, to guide the body to self-heal. Though Viro would need the necessary medical knowledge beforehand from an expert, either by being it's pervious host or supervising Viro.

Viro also has the ability to split itself into small pieces, able to have multiple hosts at once. However the smaller the fragment, the less power it will have. All the fragments have technopathic connections, that weaken over time if they spend too time separated. But can also fuse just as easily. If Viro were to find a completely separate Mind Parasite, they could become one entity.

Another advantage to being able to switch from host to host, is the stealth advantage. By controlling the person's movements, it can travel around in plain sight. And for a quick getaway, Viro can even use animals like birds and mice. But this puts Viro at risk of picking up animal habits, so only uses this as a last resort.

Due to Viro being a 'gas-based' lifeform, it can manifest it's body into any space it wants. It can use this in serval way, like; visually showing a memory/scene to people without needing to go into their heads and can also morph it's body into a certain face, like the face of a dead person as a manipulation/intimidation method. However, those shapes are purely visual, with Viro not being able to change the texture or colour of its body, only shape. So every visible still has the blue and green colouring and smoke-like texture. Viro can also mimic those its studies, which includes voices and behaviors. Sometimes using them to lure people to it.

While it's easy to assume Viro has connections with Psychic forces - It actually has little to no crossover, since Viro based more in the Physical plane, even if the effects it can have on people are similar. In fact, Psychics who have attampted to use their powers on Viro, have described it as "Unreadable jumble of minds", vertically making Viro immune to psychics. Similarly, in the realms of the supernatrual, it's uncertain if Viro has it's own unique soul as fusion of separate animal electrical nerves. If so, Viro has can't interact with the afterlives, with the spiritual entities unable to harm it either.

**Weaknesses: **Due to being a gas-based creature, physical combat such, punching and kicking, won't affect Viro, going right through it. Though physical combat is still able to damage its exoskeleton, which is usually made from light yet flimsy metals (Though occasionally are made from stronger metals). There are also serval weak points to the exoskeleton, for example, the rods/joints that hold the entire structure together. If you cause it crack or split, which you could do with a well-placed bullet, Viro will be exposed to the outside world, which is like acid to it.

However, Viro is still susceptible to things such as; extreme temperatures, different types of waves such as sound waves, acids, reactive elements etc. Its worst weakness by far being electricity.

Due to Viro experiencing its victim's memories, thoughts and emotions all first-hand, it risks Viro forming an emotional connection with its victims. This is risky as if it can stop Viro from feeding properly because it would kill the host in the process, which Viro may not want to do if it has an emotional connection to its prey.

Another weakness, comes from its ability to split. If a fragment is split from the main body for too long and can not find an animal host to feed on, it can face starvation, killing off a section of Viro. Another risk to this, is the fact, if a fragment remain separated for too long, it's technopathic connections will be weakened. If it becomes too weak, the fragment may start to develop it's own conscious, becoming a separate entity from Viro. Which is theorized how Mind Parasite reproduces. (Similar to the phenomenon to the Clayface and Annie in the Batman animated series.)

Viro is only able to see and hear when in it's exoskeleton, so can't pick up things such as; sudden temperatures rise or any harmful gases. The only way for Viro to pick those type of things up is when they causes it physical pain.

**Goals:** After getting free range of the Physical world with its new exoskeleton, Viro aims to gain as much knowledge as possible while experimenting with Gotham's people and criminals. Approaching the world is an almost 'child-sense of wonder'. Even sometimes doing it for its own amusement.

To become more powerful by fusing with more Mind parasites. Viro isn't sure if it willing to force the other Parasite to fuse with it anyway if it refuses.

Another goal is expanding its abilities to get into the minds of; Plants, Machines, Non-physical entities, Extra-dimensional beings etc.

**Crimes/When it free:**

Viro usually committees its crimes as an individual, rarely working with anyone willing. Seeing humans as things to experiment with, not to ally with as equals. With more gullible gangs/criminals, Viro will only ally with them for the extra muscle/protection and to have easy access to them, if it wants to experiment with them. Through on occasional, it has been known to work with Gotham's most notorious villains like Clayface, Joker, Two-face etc. because they're some of the rare humans Viro actually respects. But only if they have something worthwhile to offer it. For example, if Viro is helping with a bank heist, it can easily assess the codes by going to the mind of a society guard.

Viro most commonly recorded crimes are abduction, murder/'Eating' (Most commonly random bystanders Viro feeds on as he likes to keep the more interesting 'subjects' alive.), mental torture, the cause of many brain damage and mental illness cases, leaking of private information to the public to ruin a person's life, trespassing, breaking and eventing to reach it's victim, the occasional thieft of certain objects that may be important to a person or materials to help Viro build a new exoskeleton.

However Viro's full criminal record will probably never be known due to ability to remind anonymous, hidden in plain sight while inside someone's head. A lot of people, including the authorities will never know that which crimes were caused by Viro's manipulation. The only tell-tale signs of Viro activities is if; there are exoskeletons found hidden a certain area (they're usually used if Viro's plan fails and needs a 'get-away body'), bodies with consumed brains are found, someone sees a 'bluish green light jumping from one person to the other' that only lasts a slight second and if Viro makes a mistake and allows it's host to act out of character.

People, such as Batman, have learned the different quirks and signs of someone who is infected by Viro. However, those signs are very subtle and only experts able to spot them.

**Official statement/advice from Gotham police: **  
_  
'If any of those signs are found, it's advised authorities to notified immediately. While waiting for help, make sure to avoid anyone who you suspect to be infected by Viro. You should insolate yourself in a small locked room, where it or any of its human hosts can't reach you. If you find yourself face to face with Viro, make sure to cover up your nose, ears and mouth at all times with anything you can find. Likes to talk, but don't engage with it in conversation, as it will use many manipulation tactics to try and trick you. Ignore it, make sure to keep face covered and focus on getting out of the trapped area. Unlikely, but if Viro attempts to engage you in physical combat, roll into a tight ball and don't move. Do not try to fight it. As it will give Viro more opportunities to get into your brain._

_However we would like to remind you, that Viro is still only one creature, and the likely hood of ever coming into contact with it, is very unlikely. Viro tends to target criminals and generally has little interest in going after everyday citizens.'  
_

Many criminals have used Viro as an excuse for their behavior but serval scientific have been developed to test if a Mind Parasite has been inside someone's brain. However, the results of those tests aren't always accurate, only working about 80% of the time. Especially if it's been a long time since Viro last left the body.

**Contentment:** When Viow was first captured, there was much debate on where it should be held. Not only because it's not human but also because of it being a new unique species with great potential. Though, it was decided that a research facility wouldn't secure enough to hold Viro safely. So it was finally decided that the best place to hold it was Arkham Asylum, due the asylum already holding inmates such as Clayface and , that need specialized cells. But also because they want to keep Viro in Gotham City as the criminals there are mostly just humans and if Viro were to get inside of their brains, it wouldn't be a world threat.

Viro is held in the lower underground levels of Arkham, well away from any of the patients. Its cell is a small plain room with the walls and floors coated with metal and the far wall made from thick glass. There isn't any furniture such a bed as Viro doesn't need sleep. On the ceiling is a trap door, where they spend down dying animals such as mice and rats for Viro to feed on.

One thing that makes Viro so hard to control, is the fact you can never be sure you have "all" of Viro. As it has the ability to separate itself and to infect multiple hosts at once. However a piece can't afford to remain separated for too long or it could face starvation.

If you must enter the Viro's cell, special protective gear must be worn, so Viro cannot enter your mind. As a bare minimum the face must be covered. If Viro is found to be inside someone's brain and refuses to get out, Viro can always be "extracted" but it's a dangerous and painful process for both the host and Viro.

Right now, an even specialized cell is currently being developed. A cell that is similar in appearance to a stereotypical "cloning tube". Designed to have the ability to have a tight control of the environment inside the tube. Through testing, Scientists are hoping to find the right conditions, in order for Viro to be safely contained without one of his exoskeletons, which gives Viro a dangerous advantage over the average person.

**Relationships:**

**Toward Superheros:** Many Superheros (Especially the Justice League) are wary of Viro as if it's able to get into the head of a powerful metahuman like Superman or Wonder women, the effects could be devastating. Maybe even prove to an effective weapon against the most powerful animal beings. When Viro inside an exoskeleton or weak host, it's not much of a threat. However, when it's inside the Brain, the Host's own body is used as a weapon against them. Even heroes like Superman would be effected by that.

Yet despite the possible threat, Viro seems content with Gotham for the time beings, rarely venturing outside of it. It considers the city as the perfect microcosm of the wider world, so uses it as a 'training ground'. So hasn't proven to be much of a problem outside of Gotham. The main Superhero Viro interacts with is Batman. Unlike many of his Supervillain enemies, Viro has no extreme hatred or obsession with him. More concerned about being able to experiment , Viro takes secretive approach to it's crime spree, so encounters Batman less then most villains. In fact, Viro considers the Dark Knight a necessary factor to maintaining Gotham's "limbo state" - So Viro can stay until it's ready to go into the outside world, without worry of the environment changing. Such as keeping Viro itself and it's most interesting hosts alive in Arkham, rather than killing them.

Viro and Batman have a reluctant tolerance of each other, having a 'Let's get this over with' attitude when they fight. Viro never goes out of it's way to kill or torture the hero. As a creature that sends it's life observing minds, killing or seriously harming its hosts has little benefit. Even keeping Batman's true identity a secret, thinking it's experiments would be interrupted if the information was leaked. If given a good enough reason, Viro may even ally with Batman. On Bruce wayne's side, he feels on sense of reasonability over Viro, specially since he allowed it to gain self-awareness. Getting irritated whenever someone "unnecessarily" gets involved with Viro, thinking he should personally deal with it.

**Toward Supervillains:** Like heros, many villains won't trust Viro because of how difficult it is to control. Many villains even fear Viro, for its ability to be in your head, slowly changing you and the way you think, all without you knowing it. However the few Supervillains with guts to take on Viro as an ally, have found great uses for it.

Supervillains, especially the unstable ones, are Viro's most targeted group. As its considers them to have the most interesting minds to experiment with. The only supervillain Viro will never touch is the Hugo Strange as it feels grateful towards him for freeing him into the physical world. The Inmates of Arkham have come to know Viro as the Plucker ("Pluck" for short), named after the way Viro seems to slowly picks at your mind during "treatment".

**Other facts: **Mind Parasites gain the characteristics of their victims. That's why Viro acts like a human because they're it's main targets.

Viro is unable to feel, taste or smell. It can only hear and see.

Viro doesn't need to sleep. But it does have a similar state, where it will remain immobile for serval hours or even days, sorting through its collected memories and thoughts. Unlike sleep, Viro still keeps a slight awareness of its surroundings and go in and out of it willingly.

When Viro talks normally (when it's not mincing anyone), it sounds as if a middle-aged woman and man are speaking in unison.

**Backstory:** For the longest time, Viro wasn't aware of its own existence - Always assuming it was the same entity as its host. Viro was barely recorded by the Scientific community, dismissed as an unusual 'disease' which only effected one person at a time. So members of the general public could never hope to hear about it. Only a handful of geniuses considered the possibility it was more than a 'rare mental illness' - So when Viro coincidentally found itself in Gotham, Batman and Hugo Strange were among them. One case after the other, people with no pervious history, were gaining seemingly random mental illnesses before their whole brain withered away. With so few medical recordings, hospitals could do little. However like most areas, Viro's presence remained mostly uncovered by the Media. After all, serval people dying of rare illnesses wasn't very News worthy in the most cases. Though the keen eye of Batman wasn't so dismissive. Since crime was his expertise, he could only monitor it unless it was proven as a supervillain's plot.

But then it suddenly became more personal - With Alfred Pennywise becoming Viro's next host. Knowing his old friend so well, Batman eventually picked up on small quirks Alfred never used to do. When Alfred started having seizures, it was the final straw, Batman did a full-investigation. First theorising it was a psychic, he contacted serval Justice League allies who could track that specific power signature. Yet, no one could find anything. Searching other possibilities, Batman made the conclusion the entity effecting Alfred, was physically inside his brain.

Cornering the effected Alfred in the Bat Cave, Batman finally directly addresses the possessor, revealing he knew there was a second person inside his butler's head. Though it became obvious the mysterious creature hadn't gained self-awareness yet, struggling to use the correct pronounces for itself, asking questions such as 'I'm not him?'. With Batman putting this massive revelation onto Viro, it fled via latching onto a bat swarm, flying away from the Batcave.

Having an existential crisis, Viro carelessly went to the closet Human host it could find, a homeless women, while it tried to figure out everything. This lead to the women acting suddenly out of character, which the locals defiantly noticed. The Super Villain, Hugo Strange was able to observe this and prove his suspicions. Seeing an opportunity to experiment on a unique creature, Strange kidnapped the Women and Viro. First he isolates Viro from a Human body, Strange extracted and placed it into an exoskeleton of his own design. Next, Strange attampted to see how long Viro could last in the outside world. Just then, the Dark Knight crashes in, knocking Strange out and returning Viro to its stabilising exoskeletons.

Trying to make sense of its situation, Viro makes Batman its next host to get the answers its wants. Using the Dark Knight's nerve system against him, Viro paralyses him, locked up in an abandoned building. Keeping Batman on life support, Viro spends the next serval weeks, just trying to make sense of the new world it was exposed to. Despite Strange's mistreatment of it, Viro ends using the exoskeleton when it wasn't searching Batman's brain for information. Despite his dealings with Scarecrow, Batman had never experienced a mental invasion so deep, going far beyond the obvious death of his parents. Viro able to bring up thoughts from his subconscious even he wasn't aware of.

Yet after much discussion between the two, Viro agreed to free Batman, promising it can find a place in human society. Despite knowing he was Bruce Wayne, Viro intended to keep it secret, mutually respecting him for discovering its existence. Though also wanting to keep Bruce's life in a controlled environment, intending to experiment with him in the future. Before they went their separate ways, Viro asked the hero to name it. Somewhat resentful, Batman came up with 'Viro' from 'Virus', similar to how Supervillains were named. Though Viro still accepted it, just relieved to have its own identity.

Viro presented itself to the Gotham authorities. There was much debate on what to do with this newly discovered creature. But with strings pulling from a certain person, Viro ended up in working in a Hospice - Able to feed itself and bring comfort to dying patients. However it was not ideal.  
Many people it was meant to help rejected Viro out of fear. Also it had many restrictions, unable to even leave the Hospice, when it felt like it had much more potential.

Unfortunately, the life Viro was building up for itself was soon shattered. Recently euthanising a young boy, the mother became convinced her son could on live through Viro. Which was only a half-truth, as Viro's nourishment, the boy's consciousness would eventually be burnt out like any food energy - The nerve endings would last four weeks more then the rest of the body. The mother wouldn't give up though, trying to get Viro legally announced a human in court. This attracted the wary attention of Batman, knowing too well what this could lead to. Sneaking into the Hospice, Batman asked the Mind Parasite what it planned to do.

Deeply conflicted, it wasn't entirely certain. Sure, it behaved identical to humans, but that was because it was literally an amalgam of consumed Human nerve endings. It felt wrong for a Mind Parasite to apart of Human society, _when Humans were it's main prey_. If it was declared legally human, Viro would atomically be a cannibal due its natural diet, which felt... Wrong. Then there was mother herself. She was trying to force Viro to be someone else. As a human, Viro couldn't fully use it's natural abilities. Even if Viro hadn't meet another one of it's species, it wasn't ashamed and most comfortable as a Mind Parasite. It made its decision. It wasn't Human.

At the end of the court sessions, it was ruled in Viro's favour, despite the Mother's pleas. On the Court house steps, mysterious men grabbed Viro, taking it to a laboratory. The mother who had hired them, presenting Viro with a new exoskeleton that looked eerily similar to her son, begging it to allow for a court repeal. Having enough, Viro smashed the exoskeleton's face. Using it's ability to split into pieces, Viro isolated the piece of the son's mind, throwing it at the mother's feet. An ironic gesture, as though the mother technically got what she wanted, the piece was exposed to the outside world, evaporating right before the mother.

After everything, the Mother was arrested for theft of government property, not for kidnapping if Viro had been declared human. Viro itself was facing repercussions for it's threatening behavior towards the mother, not able to argue for self-defence. Convinced it could only exist in Human society as a criminal, Viro broke out of it containment in the Hospice. When Batman went discover what it was doing, Viro asked him a simple question: Whatever Viro became, would he kill it since it wasn't legally human. The Dark Knight replies he's allied with many aliens - So if they're human enough, he won't kill them and Viro no exception.

That night, Viro took it's first step towards villainy.


End file.
